Miocene Mammalian Faunas and Biostratigraphy of the Zia Formation, Northern Albuquerque Basin, Sandoval County, New Mexico

Home , Barstovian, Bear dog, Clarendonian, Cynarctoides

NMBMMR OFR 454B MIOCENE MAMMALIAN FAUNAS AND BIOSTRATIGRAPHY OF THE ZIA FORMATION, NORTHERN ALBUQUERQUE BASIN, SANDOVAL COUNTY, NEW MEXICO

GARY S. MORGAN and SPENCER G. LUCAS New Mexico Museum of Natural History, 1801 Mountain Road, NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104

Tedford (1981) reviewed the fossil mammal Arikareean age to the Standing Rock LF based on the faunas from late Cenozoic basins in New Mexico, association of the carnivores Daphoenodon, including the Albuquerque basin in the north-central Cephalogale, and Promartes cf. P. lepidus, and the part of the state. Early and middle Miocene mammal stenomyline camel Stenomylus cf. S. gracilis. faunas are known from the northern third of the Standing Rock Quarry is the type locality of the Albuquerque basin in Sandoval County, representing rodents Proheteromys cejanus and Ziamys tedfordi, the Arikareean, Hemingfordian, Barstovian, and named by Gawne (1975), and has also produced a Clarendonian land-mammal ”ages” (Galusha, 1966; nearly complete skeleton of the primitive rabbit Gawne, 1975, 1976; Tedford, 1981; Tedford and Archaeolagus (Gawne, 1976). The Standing Rock LF Barghoorn, 1997, 1999; Morgan and Williamson, is slightly younger than the well known late 2000). The Miocene vertebrate faunas from the Arikareean Agate Springs Quarry from the Harrison northern Albuquerque basin are derived from the Zia Formation in western Nebraska. Formation (Fig. 1). Galusha (1966) named the Zia The Blick Quarry and the stratigraphically “Sand” Formation with two members, the lower equivalent Cynarctoides Quarry are in the middle of Piedra Parada Member and the upper Chamisa Mesa the Chamisa Mesa Member of the Zia Formation, Member. The Cañada Pilares Member of Gawne located along Arroyo Pueblo east of Jemez Pueblo on (1981) is similar in age to the Chamisa Mesa the Jemez Reservation (Galusha, 1966). Gawne Member, but is lithologically distinct. Connell et al. (1975) named the Blick LF for the combined fossil (1999) named the Cerro Conejo Member as the mammal assemblage from these two quarries. uppermost unit of the Zia Formation. Vertebrate Tedford (1981) and Gawne (1975, 1976) assigned an fossils occur in all four members of the Zia early Hemingfordian age to the Blick LF based on the Formation in the northern Albuquerque basin (Fig. presence of the dog Tomarctus optatus (placed in the 1). genus Protomarctus by Wang et al., 1999), the dog Cynarctoides acridens, the rodent Pleurolicus cf. P. sulcifrons, and the pika (ochotonid) Oreolagus cf. O. nebrascensis. The Blick Quarry is the type locality of the endemic stenomyline camel Blickomylus galushai (Frick and Taylor, 1968). The Blick LF is early Hemingfordian in age, and is similar to the Thomas Farm LF from Florida, the Martin Canyon LF from Colorado, and the faunas from the Runningwater Formation in Nebraska (Gawne, 1975). The Jeep Quarry is located in the same general vicinity as the Blick Quarry in the Arroyo Pueblo drainage, but is higher stratigraphically, in the upper part of the Chamisa Mesa Member. Gawne (1975) named the Jeep LF for the mammalian assemblage from the Jeep Quarry and several nearby localities. Tedford (1981) assigned an early Hemingfordian age Figure 1. Lithostratigraphic and bistratigraphic to the Jeep LF based on the presence of the bear dog correl-ation of the Zia Formation in the northern Amphicyon, the mustelid Promartes, the camel Albuquerque basin. Protolabis, and the mylagaulid rodent Mesogaulus. Other mammals from the Jeep LF (Gawne, 1975) The Standing Rock Quarry is in the Piedra include the bear dog Ysengrinia, the canids Parada Member of the Zia Formation, located in Desmocyon thompsoni and Metatomarctus canavus, Arroyo Piedra Parada, south of San Ysidro on the Zia the pronghorn antilocaprid Merycodus, and the Reservation (Galusha, 1966). It has produced the camels Michenia and Blickomylus galushai. The Jeep oldest fossil mammal assemblage from the Zia Quarry is the type locality of the canid Cynarctoides Formation, the rich late Arikareean assemblage gawnae (Wang et al., 1999). The Jeep LF is early named the Standing Rock Local Fauna (LF) by Hemingfordian in age, slightly younger than the Gawne (1975). Tedford (1981) assigned a late Blick LF, and intermediate in age between medial

C-33 NMBMMR OFR 454B Hemingfordian faunas from the Runningwater locality that is part of the Cerro Conejo Member. Formation and the late Hemingfordian Sheep Creek Faunas from the Cerro Conejo Member along the Fauna, both from Nebraska (Gawne, 1975; Tedford, northern Ceja del Rio Puerco, from Cañada Navajo 1981). south to Cañada Pilares and Cañada Moquino, most The Kiva Quarry is in the Chamisa Mesa or of which are located on the Alamo Ranch, are similar Piedra Parada members of the Zia Formation in the to the Rincon Quarry assemblage. (Tedford, 1981) Jemez River area near Arroyo Ojito and Arroyo The Alamo Ranch sites are characterized by the Piedra Parada (Cañada de Zia and Cañada Piedra beaver Eucastor, the camels Aepycamelus, Michenia, Parada, respectively, of Galusha, 1966; Tedford, Protolabis, and Procamelus, the antilocaprid 1981). The presence of the borophagine dogs Ramoceros, and Gomphotherium productum Paracynarctus kelloggi and Microtomarctus conferta (Tedford, 1981; Tedford and Barghoorn, 1999). The and a primitive species of the horse genus mammalian assemblages from the Cerro Conejo Protohippus indicates a late Hemingfordian age for Member on the Alamo Ranch are typical of the late the Kiva Quarry (Tedford, 1981; Wang et al., 1999). Barstovian (middle Miocene, 12-14 Ma; Tedford and The Kiva Quarry fauna is similar to mammalian Barghoorn, 1999). A late Barstovian age for the faunas from the Nambé Member of the Tesuque vertebrate faunas is supported by a K-Ar date of Formation in the Española basin in northern New 13.64 Ma on a fallout ash in the Cerro Conejo Mexico. Member (Tedford and Barghoorn, 1999). In Arroyo Ojito, and farther south along the Ceja Scattered, generally poorly documented del Rio Puerco, especially on the Alamo Ranch and Clarendonian mammal fossils are found in the upper Benavidez Ranch, faunas of late Barstovian age part of the Cerro Conejo Member on the Zia occur in the Cerro Conejo Member (usage of Connell Reservation between the San Ysidro and Zia faults of et al., 1999) of the Zia Formation (Tedford 1981; Connell et al. (1999), which are equivalent to the Tedford and Barghoorn, 1999; Morgan and Jemez and Rincon faults, respectively, of Galusha Williamson, 2000). The Benavidez Ranch LF is in (1966) and Tedford (1981). Another poorly the Cerro Conejo Member west of Rio Rancho in documented Clarendonian locality includes the southern Sandoval County. The Benavidez Ranch carnivore Epicyon and is near US-550 on the Santa mammalian fauna includes the rhinoceros Peraceras, Ana Reservation (R.H. Tedford, 1999, oral the camels Michenia, Procamelus, and Protolabis, commun.), where several volcanic ashes are the pronghorn antilocaprid Ramoceros, and the interbedded in the uppermost part of the Cerro proboscidean Gomphotherium productum (Morgan Conejo Member. One of these ashes correlates to one and Williamson, 2000). The Benavidez Ranch LF of the Trapper Creek tephra in Idaho, which is dated also has a diverse footprint fauna, including tracks at ~ 10.8 Ma (Personius et al., 2000). The age of this made by a small wading bird, small and medium- ash is consistent with the occurrence of the sized camels, a rhinoceros, a horse, a large felid, a Clarendonian horses Pliohippus cf. P. pernix, large borophagine canid, and a proboscidean Cormohipparion cf. C. occidentale, and a derived (Williamson and Morgan, 2001). The most age- species of Neohipparion (Galusha, 1966; Tedford, diagnostic taxon in the Benavidez Ranch LF is 1981). Eastward, across the Zia fault, and in the Gomphotherium, which first appears in southwestern Arroyo Arenoso drainage north of the Jemez River, faunas in the early middle Miocene at about 14.5 Ma, rocks that are probably correlative with the Cerro defining the beginning of the late Barstovian Conejo Member have produced similar Clarendonian (Tedford et al., 1987; Tedford and Barghoorn, 1997, fossils (Tedford, 1981). Deposits that may be 1999). The remainder of the Benavidez Ranch LF is correlative with the Cerro Conejo Member are consistent with a late Barstovian age. interbedded with the Chamisa Mesa basalt (Connell At Arroyo Ojito, the Rincon quarry of Galusha et al., 1999), which has a K-Ar date of about 10.4 Ma (1966) is in the lower 50 m of the Cerro Conejo type (Bailey and Smith, 1978). These two dates are section, and the Zia prospect is near the middle of the consistent with a Clarendonian age for the youngest Cerro Conejo section at Arroyo Ojito (S.D. Connell, faunas from the Cerro Conejo Member. 2000, oral commun.). The Rincon Quarry fauna The mammalian faunal succession from the Zia includes the borophagine canids Aelurodon ferox and Formation in the northern Albuquerque basin begins Paratomarctus temerarius and primitive species of in the late Arikareean and ends in the Clarendonian the horse genera Neohipparion and Pliohippus (between about 19-21 and 11 Ma), overlapping in age (Tedford, 1981; Wang et al., 1999). The Rincon with much of the better known faunal sequence from Quarry assemblage is similar to the late Barstovian the Española basin in northern New Mexico fauna from the Santa Cruz sites in the Pojoaque (Tedford, 1981). Late Arikareean faunas from the Member of the Tesuque Formation in the Española Aqiquiu Formation are similar in age to the Standing basin (Tedford, 1981). Rock LF in the Albuquerque basin. Early The Alamo Ranch site is another late Barstovian Hemingfordian sites comparable in age to the Blick (Tedford, 1981, Tedford and Barghoorn, 1999). and Jeep LFs appear to be absent from the Española

C-34 NMBMMR OFR 454B basin. Sites from the Nambé Member of the Tesuque Morgan, G. S. and Williamson, T. E., 2000, Middle Formation are similar to the late Hemingfordian Kiva Miocene (late Barstovian) vertebrates from the Quarry in the Albuquerque basin. There appears to be Benavidez Ranch Local Fauna, Albuquerque a hiatus in the northern Albuquerque basin sequence, basin, New Mexico; in S. G. Lucas, ed., New equivalent to the early Barstovian, and corresponding Mexico’s Fossil Record 2: New Mexico Museum to faunas from the Skull Ridge Member of the of Natural History and Science Bulletin 16, p. Tesuque Formation in the Española basin (Tedford, 195-207. 1981; Tedford and Barghoorn, 1999). This hiatus is Personius, S.F., Machette, M.N., and Stone, B.D., documented by magnetostratigraphy (Tedford and 2000, Preliminary geologic map of the Loma Barghoorn, 1999). Late Barstovian faunas from the Machete quadrangle, Sandoval County, New Rincon Quarry, Alamo Ranch, and Benavidez Ranch Mexico: U.S. Geological Survey, Misc. Field in the northern Albuquerque basin are comparable in Investigations, MF-2334, scale 1:24,000, ver. age to faunal assemblages in the Española basin from 1.0. the Pojoaque Member of the Tesuque Formation, in Tedford, R. H., 1981, Mammalian biochronology of particular the Santa Cruz sites (Tedford, 1981, fig. 2). the late Cenozoic basins of New Mexico: The youngest faunas from the Zia Formation are Geological Society of America Bulletin, Part I, Clarendonian in age, and are similar to several faunas v. 92, p. 1008-1022. in the Española basin, such as the Round Mountain Tedford, R. H., and Barghoorn, S. 1997. Miocene Quarry in the Chamita Formation (Tedford, 1981). mammals of the Española and Albuquerque basins, north-central New Mexico; in Lucas, S. REFERENCES G., Estep, J. W., Williamson, T. E., and Morgan, G. S., eds., New Mexico’s fossil record 1: New Bailey, R. A. and Smith, R. L., 1978, Guide to the Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Jemez Mountains and Española basin: New Bulletin 11, p. 77-95. Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Tedford, R. H., and Barghoorn, S. 1999. Santa Fe Circular 163, p. 184-196. Group (Neogene), Ceja del Rio Puerco, Connell, S. D., Koning, D. J., and Cather, S. M., northwestern Albuquerque basin, Sandoval 1999, Revisions to the stratigraphic County, New Mexico: New Mexico Geological nomenclature of the Santa Fe Group, Society, Guidebook 50, p. 327-335. northwestern Albuquerque Basin, New Mexico: Tedford, R. H., Galusha, T., Skinner, M. F., Taylor, New Mexico Geological Society, Guidebook 50, B. E., Fields, R. W., Macdonald, J. R., p. 337-354. Rensberger, J. M., Webb, S. D., and Whistler, D. Frick, C. and B. E. Taylor, 1968, A generic review of P., 1987, Faunal succession and biochronology the stenomyline camels: American Museum of the Arikareean through Hemphillian interval Novitates, n. 2353, 51 p. (late Oligocene through earliest Pliocene epochs) Galusha, T. 1966. The Zia Sand Formation, new in North America; In M. O. Woodburne (editor), early to medial Miocene beds in New Mexico. Cenozoic mammals of North America: American Museum Novitates, n. 2271, 12 p. Geochronology and biostratigraphy: Berkeley, Gawne, C. E., 1975, Rodents from the Zia Sand, University of California Press, p. 153-210. Miocene of New Mexico: American Museum Wang, X, Tedford, R. H., and Taylor, B. E., 1999, Novitates, n. 2586, 25 p. Phylogenetic systematics of the Borophaginae Gawne, C. E., 1976, Lagomorphs from the Zia Sand, (Carnivora: Canidae): Bulletin of the American Miocene of New Mexico: American Museum Museum of Natural History, n. 243, 391 p. Novitates, n. 2608, 15 p. Williamson, T. E. and Morgan, G. S., 2001, Avian Gawne, C. E., 1981, Sedimentology and stratigraphy and mammalian tracks from the middle Miocene of the Miocene Zia Sand of New Mexico: (late Barstovian) Benavidez Ranch local fauna, Summary: Geological Society of America Albuquerque basin, New Mexico. New Mexico Bulletin, Part I, v. 92, p. 999-1007. Geology.

C-35 NMBMMR OFR 454B

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

C-36